My experience in Cuba was largely shaped by my relationship with the lens of my camera. My camera was my tool, my companion and my confidant. I am thankful for the help it provided me with, but also became wary of its presence at times. My usual code of conduct with my camera is to use my Nikon only when an image that is inspirational confronts me. Once I have played with that image, understood it through the lens and snapped the photo, I place the lens cap back on (which is resting between my teeth, waiting to return to its home on the lens) and swing my camera around my back, out of sight but never out of mind. This is key to my photography, having it out of sight, as to not pressure me to be photographing constantly but still present in my mind, so I am alert to my surroundings and the potential they carry for a photograph. This captivation of an image is normally a captivation of a fleeting moment, so my practice of out of sight, always in mind has become much easier because I have been accustomed to photographing passing time. This trip though, I was done with easy. I wanted a challenge and Cuba was exactly that, a place that challenged myself creatively and academically, forced me to relearn and maneuver with difficulty and awkwardness at times. How did I challenge myself? By pulling out my 1950′s, medium format, Hasselblad and sitting with my subject, asking questions, laughing, making eye contact and being comfortable with time.
By forcing myself to confront time in the sense of taking of photograph, I was able to confront time in the sense of Cuba because I was using the time of Cuba in order to take the photograph. It is from meditating on this word, carefully sorting through my photographs, reflecting on the conversations I had with people and visualizing my body in Cuba’s built environment, that my mind kept expanding to understand the multiple interpretations and visions Cubans have of time. Time for Cubans manifests itself within the historical architecture of city centers, antique cars used for the transportation of people functioning within time constraints on a daily level, the time waiting in line to receive monthly rations, the time of salsa, the time of reggaeton, the Castro timeline, time waiting for the blockade to lift…
As I became more aware of time’s affect on the island, I came to appreciate the time I was dedicating to using a camera thought to be lost in time, an antique, a camera that belongs to the time period of the cars circling Havana roads. I came to understand the importance of time with the subjects I selected, and I understood the time they were lending to me as a gift.
For my project I have chosen to construct an ethnographic photo essay in which I will profile Cubans I met on my travels, as well as situate these profiles within the Cuban environment. The profile of a subject will include the following: portrait (120mm film), name, age, occupation, location of photograph and an answer to a variation of the question, “What does being Cuban mean to you?” The question took on multiple forms as my research continued and I began to explore alternate interview techniques. Over the course of the two weeks, the question varied from the original question stated above, to: “list three to four words that come to mind when you think Cuba”, “what is the meaning of cubanidad?”, and “how do you feel about your country and what would you like to change?”. As I became more aware of my time constraints within Cuba and the time that was being dedicated to me on a small scale by my subjects, I wanted to ensure I was hearing a range of voices and answers.
I will arrange my project by accompanying the profiles (120mm film) with images of the built and organic environment (35mm film). These images will situate the individual profiles within a Cuban context and allow those experiencing the ethnographic photo project, a necessary spatial recognition. There will be no prelude or conclusion to the project because my work must stand on its own in demonstrating the subject matter. I will not infuse more personal bias into a work that is already inherently biased based on the use of the photograph as an ethnographic tool.
My hope is to present a set of material that was given to me either through image or word, and to relay that information to those that are willing to take the time to not only read the answers I received in verbal conversations but to also read the photographs I received in spatial conversations.
*(The project will not be up for sometime, but until then I will still be posting images from Cuba that I will not be using in my ethnographic photo project.)
